Since he’s technically a free agent because he hasn’t signed the team’s $US14.8 million franchise tender, Pierre-Paul is under no obligation to talk to the Giants or let them check out his hand. The team sent two employees to Florida to see JPP in the hospital, and he refused to see them. He also hasn’t responded to a text from coach Tom Coughlin, the coach claims.

According to ESPN he’s working out by himself and won’t sign the franchise tender until he’s confident he can pass a team physical. It makes total sense, but it has created a weird situation where the Giants — his presumed employer — are completely in the dark on the state of his hand.

At training camp, Mara put it bluntly, “I don’t know how many fingers he has.”

He also said this:

John Mara, asked what his message would be to Pierre-Paul, says, “Come home. We miss you.”
— Dan Graziano (@DanGrazianoESPN) July 30, 2015

Coughlin told SI’s Jenny Vrentas, “I want to help. I want to be there for him. But he’s decided that he doesn’t want our help.”

Despite these appeals from the team, Pierre-Paul seems to be doing the right thing here. If he came back before he was fully healthy the team could place him on the non-football injury list and refuse to pay him for games missed. But if he came back and passed a physical, the team couldn’t put him on the NFI list. ESPN’s Dan Graziano says Pierre-Paul is going to come back “sooner than expected.”